Born to Die

This story of the Abiku is not an easy one to read, and there is no way to write it with

a positive twist. Not all stories have a happy ending and that is so true of life in

general. We tell these stories to broaden knowledge of the world in which we live –

the happy tale, the funny tales, and also the sad tales.

The stories based on the Abiku originate with the Yoruba people, who are one of the

largest ethnic groups in West Africa. The Yoruba live in Nigeria, Benin, and Togo and

have rich and vibrant cultural traditions, languages, and beliefs. Within these

traditions are the Abiku, the Spirit Children, who are children who die young, and

enter a cycle of rebirth being born over and over again just to die young. The impact

this has on the families affected is intense and leads, understandably, to incredible

grief to families who are unlucky enough to be targeted by a Abiku spirit.

The Yoruba people believe that the Abiku spirits exist in a constant battle with

themselves. On one hand, they want to remain in the world, but on the other the

attraction of the spirit world calls to them tempting them to return. The Abiku is

representative of the conflict between life and death which every person feels at

some point. Death the great unknown that is something to be feared, the unwelcome

darkness. Or life, at times so amazing but also so hard for so many people.

When a child is possessed by an Abiku spirit, it is guaranteed that it will die young,

but also that it will return to the living world, only to die young again. It is believed

that this is due to the Abiku’s strong urge to return to the world of the living and its

love of the human experience.

As you can imagine, woman will do anything possible to avoid the attention of the

Abiku spirits.

It is, therefore, important for them to know where the Abiku are most likely to be

found. There are a number of places where the Abiku are said to reside, including:

1. Dark side streets within towns and villages

2. Deep in the jungle

3. Inside trees, such as the iroko, baobab, and silk-cotton tree

4. In ant hills or dung hills

Pregnant women must be careful to avoid walking in any of these places, especially

before dawn, in the afternoons when it is extremely hot, or on dark nights with little

light available.

However, no matter how hard a woman may try to avoid these places, the Abiku find

a way and once they attach themselves to a pregnant woman, they will enter her

womb and replace the foetus inside.

From this point on, the woman is fated to misery and grief as the child she is carrying

is now an Abiku child and is doomed to die. As a woman ages and reaches

menopause, she is off no more use to the Abiku and so the spirit will leave the

woman, often childless her whole life, and move on to a younger, more fertile victim.

It could be asked, what is in this for the Abiku? What do they gain from tormenting

mothers as they bear children who die over and over? In some theories, it is

suggested that the Abiku are looking to return to their homes, in the iroko, baobab,

and silk-cotton trees more affluent than when they left. The Abiku torment the

parents of these children again and again, and as with all parents, they will do

anything to end the cycle and save their children.

In seeking a solution to their problem, parents will sell everything that they own to

pay Babalawos (the fetish priest) to stop their child from falling victim again to the

Abiku. The money that the parents spend is believed to go into the coffers of the

Abiku, and so they are determined to torment the parents until all their money is

gone.

Money and material things are not the only things that the Abiku seek. The Abiku is

known for its ‘impish’ character, loving to torment and trick. They find great joy in the

grief of the mothers, and the tears that are shed over their dead children are valuable

to the Abiku. The Yoruba people believe that the tears shed by the grieving mothers

are taken by the Abiku and sold for profit. Mothers who believe that they were

carrying an Abiku child, will try not to cry at the death of their young one so that the

Abiku cannot profit from their tragedy anymore.

The fear of carrying an Abiku child was very real and on her wedding day, prayers

would be said for the bridge that O ko ni pade Abiku which translates to may you

never come across an Abiku child.